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8800gt EFI64 ROM
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My ATI cables arrived a day after I sent my PNY card back, so I haven't used it yet. (I poweed the PNY card from the spare CDROM connector). My EVGA card should arrive today, so I will let you all know soon.
This is what it looks like. The last letter on the label is F.
http://imgplace.com/image/view/d6f2fccadd3b7fecac6f983091ac9774
SUCCESS with EVGA e-GeForce 8800GT 512-P3-N802-AR. It has a 1024k x 1S flash chip. I got this from Amazon.com. Green PCB. 
It looks like the NVIDIA reference design. This is a factory overclocked 650MHz card, but of course you lose the overclock (even in Windows) when you flash it with the Apple firmware. So it's running at 600MHz. I might try overclocking in software using RivaTuner once I'm sure the card is stable at stock speeds.
And the power cable I mentioned earlier works.
http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3280778
Ran the Crysis demo for about 10 minutes at 2560x1600, everything set to high except for shaders and shadows set to medium. No AA. It looks great and plays beautifully. Unless this game slows down A LOT later in the game, I have no idea why anyone would fork out another $250 to run SLI. It has no lag at max resolution using one card. This is with the standard Apple bootcamp drivers. And the fan is barely audible. I do notice more heat coming out the back of the case.
Switched over to OS X and ran Quake 4 v1.4.2, everything maxed out... although for some reason 1920 x 1200 is the highest resolution available. Again, it's liquid smooth.
By the way, this card requires my HP monitor's DVI cable to be screwed down very tightly in order to get a picture. I thought the card was DOA at first, because I wasn't seeing anything even though it flashed ok and the fan spun up. The stock ATI card works even if the cable is loosely attached.
My system is a 2.8 dual quad, 10GB ram, 750GB WD RE2 hard disk.
It looks like the NVIDIA reference design. This is a factory overclocked 650MHz card, but of course you lose the overclock (even in Windows) when you flash it with the Apple firmware. So it's running at 600MHz. I might try overclocking in software using RivaTuner once I'm sure the card is stable at stock speeds.And the power cable I mentioned earlier works.
http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3280778
Ran the Crysis demo for about 10 minutes at 2560x1600, everything set to high except for shaders and shadows set to medium. No AA. It looks great and plays beautifully. Unless this game slows down A LOT later in the game, I have no idea why anyone would fork out another $250 to run SLI. It has no lag at max resolution using one card. This is with the standard Apple bootcamp drivers. And the fan is barely audible. I do notice more heat coming out the back of the case.
Switched over to OS X and ran Quake 4 v1.4.2, everything maxed out... although for some reason 1920 x 1200 is the highest resolution available. Again, it's liquid smooth.
By the way, this card requires my HP monitor's DVI cable to be screwed down very tightly in order to get a picture. I thought the card was DOA at first, because I wasn't seeing anything even though it flashed ok and the fan spun up. The stock ATI card works even if the cable is loosely attached.
My system is a 2.8 dual quad, 10GB ram, 750GB WD RE2 hard disk.
Can the 2008 Mac Pro use SLI in Windows? I was very much under the impression that it couldn't.
SUCCESS with EVGA e-GeForce 8800GT 512-P3-N802-AR. It has a 1024k x 1S flash chip. I got this from Amazon.com. Green PCB.
Cool. Thanks for posting the update. Just for clarificational purposes, was this the card that you ordered? http://www.amazon.com/e-GeForce-Sup...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1204146349&sr=8-1
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
It worked on the 2006 Mac Pro with 7xxx series cards and hacked drivers. I've heard that SLI with 8xxx cards requires an NVidia motherboard chipset, which no Mac Pro has.
Tanj in torment... I'm still getting two.
Eventually the drivers will be hacked. Eventually I'll have SLI. I don't really care about it, but it'd be neat.
Yes.
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SUCCESS with EVGA e-GeForce 8800GT 512-P3-N802-AR. It has a 1024k x 1S flash chip. I got this from Amazon.com. Green PCB.
And the power cable I mentioned earlier works.
http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3280778
Ran the Crysis demo for about 10 minutes at 2560x1600, everything set to high except for shaders and shadows set to medium. No AA. It looks great and plays beautifully. Unless this game slows down A LOT later in the game, I have no idea why anyone would fork out another $250 to run SLI. It has no lag at max resolution using one card. This is with the standard Apple bootcamp drivers. And the fan is barely audible. I do notice more heat coming out the back of the case.
Switched over to OS X and ran Quake 4 v1.4.2, everything maxed out... although for some reason 1920 x 1200 is the highest resolution available. Again, it's liquid smooth.
By the way, this card requires my HP monitor's DVI cable to be screwed down very tightly in order to get a picture. I thought the card was DOA at first, because I wasn't seeing anything even though it flashed ok and the fan spun up. The stock ATI card works even if the cable is loosely attached.
My system is a 2.8 dual quad, 10GB ram, 750GB WD RE2 hard disk.
Thank your for the info! I just got my ATI cable, so I will be able to install it tonight. Now I can close my case better. I didn't like running the power the other way.
With the 8800GT only being a +$180 upcharge when ordering the MP (looking at edu pricing, YMMV), what's the point of going through all of this work to get an aftermarket card working (aside from the technical challenge)?
Are there any benchmark comparisons to show that one of the Inno, XFX, BFG, etc. performs significantly better than the stock 8800GT?
Or is this only for those that made the mistake of not getting the 8800GT when they placed their order earlier this month?
Are there any benchmark comparisons to show that one of the Inno, XFX, BFG, etc. performs significantly better than the stock 8800GT?
Or is this only for those that made the mistake of not getting the 8800GT when they placed their order earlier this month?
I should add that while OS X recognized and used the 8800GT immediately, Windows XP was a pain in the ***. This was probably because I left the ATI card in, so it booted up with both cards. On bootup, XP showed the blocky Windows splash screen ok, but as soon as it got to the point where the desktop was supposed to load, it went black. If I switched the monitor to the ATI card, the desktop appeared, but reset itself to 640 x 480 each time. After moving cables around several times and reinstalling the Boot Camp drivers, I ended up with three monitor definitions, two of which were inactive at any time.
I'm not sure how I finally got it working, but I was finally able to get it to boot with the 8800GT connected to the monitor and have it stick. I still have my ATI card in the machine... I'm afraid to take it out in case it confuses Windows any further.
I'm not sure how I finally got it working, but I was finally able to get it to boot with the 8800GT connected to the monitor and have it stick. I still have my ATI card in the machine... I'm afraid to take it out in case it confuses Windows any further.
1. For non-Edu people, Amazon and other retailers have much better prices on the stock Mac Pro configurations than what we'd get dealing directly with Apple when you include rebates. MacConnection does CTO, so I suppose we could get a machine w/ 8800GT through them, but then the price ends up being nearly the same as Apple.
2. You don't have to pay sales tax with Amazon, etc. for most states. (I don't want to debate ridiculous "use tax").
3. 8800GT was adding a 5-7 week wait to Mac Pro orders, although this is getting better now.
4. Tired of having to buy special Apple-blessed stuff for a supposedly expandable top-of-the line computer! We really SHOULD be able to use any video card vendor we want...
I did find one great deal directly through Apple... if you're a member of AAAS, you can get about a 10% discount on most Apple products. I was originally going to order a 4-core with 8800GT for $2299! But again, it had a 1 month lead time, I'd have to pay sales tax, and Amazon had the 8-core in stock for free delivery with no tax and a $150 rebate...
Some of these cards come pre-overclocked in their BIOS (when running Windows) up to 700MHz, and any of them, including Apple's, can be overclocked after the fact in Windows using various tools; I've heard of some going up to 740MHz. But most of these cards are identical in design to what Apple ships. Some have upgraded coolers. I considered buying one of these but I didn't want to find out the hard way whether it has a 128k flash:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127329
Under OS X, they will all run at 600MHz, assuming you are using the EFI firmware posted at the beginning of this thread.
I have an evga 8800GT with 1024rom but when I run "nvflash -4 -5 -6 mp8800gt.rom" I get the error below:
Checking for matches between display adapter(s) and image(s)...
Adapter: BR04 (05B1h)
Overriding PCI subsystem ID mismatch
Adapter: G92-270
Overriding PCI subsystem ID mismatch
No Matches Found.
Anyone know why? There's only 1 card in the system.
Checking for matches between display adapter(s) and image(s)...
Adapter: BR04 (05B1h)
Overriding PCI subsystem ID mismatch
Adapter: G92-270
Overriding PCI subsystem ID mismatch
No Matches Found.
Anyone know why? There's only 1 card in the system.
You're correct that all cards once flashed will be at stock (600MHz) clock rates. However, editing the ROM to overclcock the card is possible, even for cards that were not originally overclocked. See this thread for details. I'm getting a 15% boost in frame rate at 700 MHz in Crysis. The other advantage of editing the ROM means that the overclock sticks in OSX.
Hi,
Ive had the same problem. For flashing I used there options:
nvflash --index=0 -4 -5 -6 somerom.rom
(or nvflash somerom.rom --index=0 -4 -5 -6 dont know anymore)
It complains alot but always answer yes and nvflash will overwrite the rom. The option index=0 is needed when the PCI Devids dont match. This option can kill your card
But i made a backup of my rom in case of something goes wrong with:nvflash --index=0 oldrom.rom
Hope this helps ...
If you haven't already done so, you could try this. Open a
console (ctrl-opt-~ if memory serves) and type these lines:
set r_mode -1
set r_customWidth 2560
set r_customHeight 1600
vid_restart
Thanks, I found that hint as well, and tried it. But when I exited the console, it reset itself to the lowest resolution possible. Not a big deal I suppose, it looks nice at 1920 x 1200.
Thanks, I found that hint as well, and tried it. But when I exited the console, it reset itself to the lowest resolution possible. Not a big deal I suppose, it looks nice at 1920 x 1200.
there should be a .cfg file in the quake folder (I want to say autoexec.cfg) where I am pretty sure you can add those custom parameters and the game will use them on every launch.
So you'd say (from what I skimmed in the other thread) that 700Mhz is the safe limit for overclocking a PC 8800 GT. How do I go about actually doing this so that it sticks in OS X?
Does this work with the Apple standard card, too? That would be amazing and I don't see why it wouldn't.
Two 8800 GT... 700Mhz each...In OS X.